


A Hallmark Movie Christmas

by BeccaAnne814



Series: Christmas/New Year’s Stories [10]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types, Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, Christmas, F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-22
Updated: 2017-12-22
Packaged: 2019-02-12 13:53:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,667
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12960747
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BeccaAnne814/pseuds/BeccaAnne814
Summary: You usually spend every Christmas at home in Tennessee with your family, but a last minute work emergency forces you to stay in Brooklyn for the holidays.  When you realize your grumpy neighbor next door is alone as well, you invite him to join you for dinner and a Hallmark Christmas movie marathon.  Will the two of you end up living out the plot line from one of those movies, or does a romance like that only exist on the silver screen?





	A Hallmark Movie Christmas

YN banged her head against her desk once her boss had shut the door behind him. It was the day before Christmas Eve and Justin Hammer had just dumped a pile of needless busywork on her desk. She was supposed to be on a plane this evening – heading back home to Tennessee to be with her family – but now those plans would have to be canceled.

She took a deep breath and picked up her phone. Her mother was going to throw a conniption fit when she found out that YN had to work over the holidays. YN knew she needed to find a new job, and she was actively looking, but no one was hiring right before Christmas. She'd just have to explain to her mother that she had no choice but to stay in Brooklyn and finish up the extra workload Mr. Hammer had given her. If she was lucky, she'd get it finished in time to at least spend a few hours curled up on her couch watching cheesy Hallmark Christmas movies. It wouldn't be the same as spending time with her family, but it was all she had left to look forward to at this point.

After a headache-inducing call to her mother, she'd gotten busy working on the new files that, for some reason, needed to be handled right before Christmas. She was pretty sure Mr. Hammer just wanted to make her life miserable, and if so, he was doing a great job of it.

By the time she'd made it halfway through the pile, it was after five o'clock. She let herself have a moment of self-pity at the thought of her plane taking off without her, but she soon snapped herself out of it and packed up for the night.

As she walked the familiar streets of her neighborhood, she couldn't help but notice the cheery Christmas decorations that greeted her everywhere she looked. She hadn't bothered to decorate her tiny apartment this year since she'd been so swamped at work and she knew her dad would have her childhood home done up like the Griswold's. Now she wished she'd taken the time to at least get a wreath for her door.

She rounded a corner and saw that the tree lot still had an open sign hanging on the fence line. Taking a chance, she went though the gate, but her heart fell as she saw the nearly empty gravel lot. There were maybe five or six trees left, and even Charlie Brown would have had a hard time finding room in his heart to love one of them.

"Can I help you, miss?" a older gentleman with an eyepatch asked her as he walked out of the mobile trailer that served as the office.

"My plans for Christmas got canceled this evening, so I thought I'd take a chance and see if you had any trees left," she explained with a sad smile.

The old man made a disgruntled sound and waved away the scrawny trees by the fence. "I've got just the thing for you. Come around here for a second."

She was hesitant to follow the man – years of living in Brooklyn had made her wary of strangers, but she swallowed her doubts and went after him. As she rounded the corner of the trailer, she saw what would have been a gorgeous Christmas tree, if it hadn't been cut down about a year too soon. It was only about four feet tall, but it was full and lush, unlike the trees at the front of the lot.

"I'll take it," she told the man as she dug out her wallet and started looking for some cash.

"Put that away," he told her. "It's the day before Christmas Eve, and I was never going to sell this little guy anyway. Consider it my gift to you."

A smile spread across her face as she put her wallet away and took the tree from him. "I don't know how to thank you."

"That smile on your face is all the payment I need," he said as they walked back toward the street. "You have a Merry Christmas."

"You, too."

With her tiny little tree, YN began walking back to apartment, but then she realized that she didn't have anything to decorate the tree with. Turning back, she headed toward the grocery store on the corner. They wouldn't have much, but she thought they'd surely have a strand of lights and some cheap ornaments. She could also pick up a few things to make herself a Christmas dinner. It wouldn't be her mother's sweet potato casserole, or her dad's famous pumpkin pie, but it would be better than the cold bowl of cereal her bare kitchen had to offer.

Being spontaneous never seemed to work out for her as she struggled to juggle the tree and all of the bags from her shopping excursion. It was almost impossible to see through the pine needles poking her in the face, but somehow she'd made it back to her apartment. Now she had to figure out how to open the front door.

Leaning to the left to keep all of the bags balanced on her right arm, she carefully dug her keys out of her bag and blindly fitted one into the lock. She did an awkward little dance with the door as she used her feet to swing it open so she could twist around to hold it with her butt. She wasn't sure how she managed to do it, but somehow she made it into the lobby without dropping a single thing. Now she just had to face the three flights of stairs up to her apartment. Thankfully, she did yoga every morning, so she thought she'd be fit enough to handle the climb while carrying an extra twenty pounds.

By the time she made it to the second floor landing, she thought she was going to die. Sweat was running down the small of her back, making her itchy, and she was breathing as though she'd just finished a marathon. Why she'd thought this was a good idea was beyond her at the moment.

Finally catching her breath, she started to make her way up the last flight of stairs. She had only taken a few steps when a gruff, but somewhat familiar voice stopped her.

"Let me help you," her neighbor said as she felt the tree being lifted from her arms.

With the little pine no longer blocking her view, she was suddenly face to face with a set of steel blue-grey eyes. She took a moment to study the man in front of her, and she came to the same conclusion she always did when she saw him – he'd seen too much, and he was still suffering from whatever had happened to him.

"Thank you, Mr. Barnes," YN said as she shifted the weight of the shopping bags draped over each arm.

"Here, let me take some of those, too," he told her as he slipped the bags on her right arm off and onto his. "And please, call me Bucky."

"Okay, Bucky," she said, a little hesitantly. This was the longest conversation she'd ever had with the man since she'd met him about a year ago, and she really wasn't sure what she was supposed to say.

He gave her a nod and motioned for her to walk up the stairs ahead of him. Suddenly nervous to be in such close proximity to him, she hurried up the stairs and down the hall to her apartment. Unlocking the door was much easier now that she had full use of her right hand.

She turned to him and held out a hand. "I can take those from here."

"I don't mind taking them in for you."

She was wary of letting him into her home. She really didn't think that he would try to hurt her, but this whole encounter was extremely awkward. Realizing that she was being ridiculous, she nodded her head and walked toward the small kitchen to the left of the front door.

Bucky followed her lead and placed the grocery bags on the counter top and then turned toward the tree. The little tree had already been in a stand, so he moved over to the sink and filled the small basin before turning back to her.

"Where would you like the tree?" he asked as he surveyed her apartment.

YN had a moment of panic as she realized that she hadn't really planned that far ahead. She'd been so focused on making the best of the bad situation she'd found herself in that she hadn't thought about the little details.

Rushing across the room, she began clearing a space on the edge of the entertainment center. It wouldn't be perfect, but it was only for a few days.

"Here will be fine," she said once she'd shoved aside some photographs and other knickknacks to make room for the tree.

She thought she saw a twinkle in his eye as he walked past her to place the tree where she'd indicated. Was he laughing at her? He probably was, she thought, and she didn't blame him. Who buys a tree the day before Christmas Eve?

As he set the tree down, she took a moment to really look at him. They'd been neighbors for about a year now, but she really didn't know much about him. He was a quiet man that kept to himself, but she did know that he had previously been in the service – she thought it had been the Army. He was always clean, but his shaggy hair was down to his shoulders, and he always had a thick layer of stubble across his jaw. He wasn't a bad looking man, but he wasn't the clean-cut, three-piece suit type of guy that she was usually attracted to.

One thing that always seemed odd to her was that he constantly wore a black leather glove on his left hand, no matter the temperature. It hadn't caught her attention last winter when he'd first moved in, but once the weather had gotten warmer, she’d noticed that he never took the glove off. She’d assumed that it was due to an injury he'd received, possibly even a service related accident.

Turning back to her, his gaze landed on the packed suitcase sitting by the door. His eyebrows narrowed in confusion as he glanced at her questioningly.

She followed his eyes and looked sadly at her bag. "I was supposed to have gone home for Christmas this evening, but my boss gave me some last minute work to finish up. Hence the shopping spree for Christmas decorations and food."

"I'm sorry," he said with a sad smile.

She waved off his concern, hoping that if she kept a smile on her face, the despair threatening to overwhelm her would be kept at bay. "That's what happens when you work for a Scrooge like Justin Hammer. Anyway, I'm trying to make the best of it. What about you? What are you doing for the holidays?"

She immediately regretted the question as soon as it slipped from her lips. In all of the months he'd been living next door to her, she'd never seen a single person coming or going from his apartment.

He ran a hand through his hair as he rolled onto the balls of his feet. She wasn't an expert on body language, but anyone could see that her question had made him nervous. She instantly wished that she'd never said anything, but now it was too late. Feeling horrible for making him self-conscious, she did the only thing she could think of, which probably wasn't any better.

"Why don't you come over tomorrow and have dinner with me?"

She waited with bated breath as she watched the indecision play across his face. A part of her wanted him to say no, but when she thought about spending the entire day tomorrow alone, she hoped that he would accept her offer.

"I wouldn't want to intrude," he finally said, his voice barely a whisper.

"Intrude?" she asked with a laugh. "I'm literally going to spend the next few days in my pajamas watching cheesy Christmas movies – you won't be intruding on anything important. Really, though, it would be nice to have some company tomorrow, and I bought way too much food for me to eat by myself."

"If you're sure?"

Her face broke out into a huge smile that had one slowly forming on his lips. "I've got to finish up my work in the morning, but I should be able to get dinner ready by about five o'clock. Does that work for you?"

"Yeah," he said, his hand going back to hair. "Okay, then. Five o'clock tomorrow."

She began walking him toward the door and laid a hand on his arm. He started to flinch away from her touch, and she almost drew her hand back. She saw him take a deep breath, so she kept her hand where it was.

"Thank you again for helping me," she told him as he headed back toward his apartment. "See you tomorrow."

He gave her a little salute as he unlocked his door and disappeared inside. What had he gotten himself into? It was one thing to be nice to the gorgeous woman next door, but to spend Christmas Eve with her? He must be out of his mind, or maybe just starved for human interaction.

He looked down at his hand encased in the leather glove as he flexed his fingers. The pain still bothered him at times, but as time wore on, he noticed it less and less. What would she think if she saw what was left of his arm? Would she have still asked him over for dinner if she knew how monstrous he looked? Running his fingers through his hair, he took a deep breath to ease the panic attack he could feel coming on. It was only dinner.

 

YN had tried to distract herself from the colossal mess she'd gotten herself into by taking her time putting away the groceries. When she'd finished that, she'd stared at the tree for a good ten minutes before realizing that she wasn't in the right frame of mind to enjoy decorating it. What she needed was some advice, and there was only one person she trusted enough to help her through this.

"Nat, I screwed up," she said into the phone when her best friend picked up.

"What's wrong, sweetie?" Natasha asked. "Wait. Aren't you supposed to be on a plane to Tennessee right now?"

YN leaned her head back against the couch cushions as she closed her eyes and thought about the day she'd just had. "Mr. Hammer dropped a load of work on me at the last minute this afternoon and made it clear that if wanted to keep my job, I'd finish it all before Christmas."

"Oh, sweetie, that's so horrible of him."

"I know," YN said, her face forming a pathetic pout, "but that's not the whole reason I'm calling."

Sensing that her friend had done something stupid, Nat jumped. "What did you do?"

"I have to start at the beginning so you'll understand the whole thing," she explained, starting to talk a little faster so she could get it all out quickly. "I went on a crazy shopping spree and bought a tree, and then I realized that I didn't have any ornaments or lights, so I went to the grocery store because you can't have Christmas without a Christmas dinner, but I obviously wasn't planning on buying that much stuff and I was loaded down with the tree and a thousand shopping bags and I could barely make it up the stairs, and. . ."

"Woah!" Nat interrupted. "Slow down and take a breath."

She did as Nat instructed, taking a few breaths before continuing her story. "Sorry. Anyway, I was struggling with everything and then my neighbor came up behind me and offered to help me carry some of it."

"Wait," Nat interrupted again. "The hot, scruffy, war-vet from 310?"

"Natasha," YN chided. "We've been over this. He's not my type, and besides, he doesn't seem the least bit interested in me at all."

"He helped you carry your groceries," Nat countered. "He could have just pretended not to see you, but he offered to help."

"He was just being nice."

"Maybe, maybe not." Nat paused for a moment before continuing. "I don't get why you're so worked up over this, sweetie. I mean, I think he's pretty hot, and I'd probably get flustered if he spoke to me. . ."

"Does Steve know you have a crush on my next door neighbor?" YN interrupted, a wry smile on her lips.

"I'm married, YN, not dead."

"You're also the mother of twins," YN reminded her. "You shouldn't be lusting after my neighbor, no matter how hot you think he is."

"Fine, whatever, just finish telling my why you're so upset over him helping you."

"It's not that he helped me," YN began, dreading getting to the next part. "It's what happened after he helped me."

"What did you do?" Nat asked again, this time using her mom voice.

"I may have invited him over for Christmas dinner tomorrow?" YN phrased it as a question, hoping her friend would tell her that she wasn't an idiot for inviting a virtual stranger over to her apartment.

"Wow. I can't believe you did that. Good for you. You saw a lonely man in need of a friend and you invited him over so he wouldn't spend the holidays alone."

"Really?"

Nat chucked for a second before answering. "If it were me, I'd have invited him over a long time ago, and it wouldn't have been for dinner."

"Natasha!"

"What? I need to live vicariously through you, even if your life is tragic and sad."

"Thanks for that," YN said, sarcasm dripping off her words like molasses.

"Admit it – you hate your job, you live in a crappy little third floor walkup, and you haven't been on a date in months."

She took a moment to consider Nat's words before replying. "Things have been rough the past few years, but I'm working on it. I have an application in at Stark Industries, and I'm hoping to get an interview after the first of the year."

"That's work, what about your love life?" Nat asked, getting back to the subject at hand. "I think you should give this guy a chance."

"I invited him over for dinner, not a date," she reminded her friend.

"Then make a new friend," Nat suggested. "You never know, it could turn into more, or you could end up with the hottest best friend ever."

"I thought I already had?" she teased.

Nat let out a chuckle. "Five years of marriage, a set of twins, and stretch marks covering most of my lower body take a toll, sweetie. Speaking of which, I've left Steve alone with them too long, and it's way too quiet. Let me know how things go tomorrow, okay?"

"I will," YN said as she started to hang up. "Have a Merry Christmas, and give my love to Wanda and Pietro."

"Merry Christmas, sweetie. Talk to you later."

YN hung up and stared at the ceiling above her. Was Nat right, and she was just making more of this than it was? She did have a tendency to overreact to things – a quality she'd inherited from her mother and had been reminded of when she'd phoned home with her change of plans. Maybe Bucky would just come over for dinner and it wouldn't be that big of a deal.

 

YN allowed herself a moment the following morning to pout over missing her dad's fluffy Belgian waffles before she got ready and headed in to the office to finish the work she'd left from the previous day. Without the constant interruption of ringing phones and annoying coworkers, she was able to get all of the files closed in a matter of hours. Checking the time on her phone, she realized that she was way ahead of the schedule she'd set for herself.

The streets were still busy with last minute shoppers, but she found herself humming along to the snippets of Christmas carols she heard playing whenever someone opened the door to one of the many shops along her route home. She may not be spending Christmas with those she loved, but she was determined to make the best of this.

After changing into a pair of leggings and an oversized tunic, and putting on some Christmas music, she preheated the oven to bake the sweet potatoes while she began mixing up the pumpkin pie filling. She'd watched her mother and father make this dinner so many times over the years, she knew exactly what order everything needed to be made so that it was all ready at the same time. The only exception to her meal were the dinner rolls – there just wasn't enough time to make them from scratch, so frozen would have to do.

Just as she was switching out the ham for the rolls in the oven, she heard a tentative knock at the door. Looking at the clock on the microwave, she saw that it was exactly five o'clock. Bucky was nothing if not prompt.

Using the glass door of the microwave as a mirror, she checked her reflection to make sure she didn't have any flour on her face before heading to the door. The man that greeted her was not the one she was expecting.

Bucky had pulled his hair back into a low ponytail at the nape of his neck, and if she wasn't mistaken, he'd trimmed up the stubble along his jaw. He was wearing a pair of dark black jeans and a red Henley that was just a tad too small for his muscular frame. She could smell the faint scent of cologne and smiled at the thought that he'd made such an effort for her.

"I thought I should bring something," he told her as he handed her a bottle of wine.

She smiled as she motioned for him to come in. "Thank you, Bucky, that was very sweet of you. I'll open this so it can breath for a minute before we eat. I just put the rolls in the oven, so dinner should be ready in about ten minutes."

"Okay."

Now that he was here, and they'd commenced with the small talk, she had no idea what to say next. Turning back to the kitchen, she dug through a drawer for the wine opener.

"I can handle that if you have something else to do," he told her as he reached for the corkscrew.

His right hand brushed hers and she felt a jolt of electricity where her skin came into contact with his. Chalking it up to nerves, she busied herself around the kitchen, moving all of the food to the small table by the window.

She got out a couple wine glasses just as the timer on the oven went off. She jumped slightly, and willed her racing heart to calm down as she grabbed a couple pot holders and removed the pan of rolls.

"Dinner's ready," she told him as she placed a few rolls onto a plate and headed toward the table.

He finished pouring the wine and followed her. "This looks amazing, YN."

"It won't be as good as my mother's, but it'll do," she said as she took the glass of wine from him, careful not to let her fingers touch his.

"Thank you again for inviting me over tonight."

"Thank you for coming," she said with a shrug. "If you hadn't, I'd just be sitting her alone with all of this food."

"We couldn't have that, now could we?" he asked, a hint of a smile on his face.

They spent the next few minutes filling up their plates, neither of them saying anything as they began to eat. YN was happy that everything seemed to taste okay, and from the way Bucky was eating, it seemed as though he enjoyed her cooking.

"So, did you get your work finished this morning?" he asked, trying to ease the awkwardness of the situation.

"I did," she said with a chuckle. "It's amazing what you can accomplish when you're the only person in the office."

Bucky's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Why were you the only one there? Didn't your boss make everyone work today?"

"No," she said with a long sigh. "I think he knows I'm looking for a new job, so my guess is that he's trying to make my life miserable before I quit."

"It sounds like you desperately need a new job with a boss like that."

"Yeah," she agreed. "I have an application in over at Stark Industries, and I know I'm qualified for the job, so I'm hoping once the first of the year rolls around, I'll get called in for an interview."

Bucky held up his glass for a toast. "Here's hoping the New Year will bring about some good changes for you."

She clinked her glass with his and took a sip of the dark red wine. So far, so good. Now she just had to make it through the rest of dinner and dessert.

She went back to eating, but the awkward silence that now engulfed them made her feel more uncomfortable with each passing second. Desperately searching for a topic of conversation, she seized upon the only information she knew about him.

"You were in the service, weren't you?" she asked.

His fork paused halfway to his mouth as his eyes met hers across the table. She could tell that she had stumbled upon something that he didn't want to discuss, so she tried to backpedal.

"You don't have to answer that. I'm sorry for prying."

He laid his fork down and stared at his left hand lying in his lap. "No, it's fine, I just wasn't expecting it to come up." He took a deep breath before continuing. "Yes, I was in the Army."

Knowing she was overstepping, but unable to stop herself, she asked, "Is that where you hurt your hand?"

He flexed the fingers of his left hand under the glove and considered how much he wanted to tell her. Taking a chance, he finally decided to lay it all out on the table and see where the chips fell afterward.

"My last tour in Afghanistan," he began as the memories started to take him back. "There was an ambush. We were surrounded by the Taliban, and one of them fired an RPG at our Humvee. I don't remember much – my ears were ringing from the explosion, and the cab was enveloped in flames. We could barely see through the smoke, but somehow we were able to crawl out and open fire on them. We lost three guys that day, but not a single one of them walked away from the fight. My arm was badly burned, but I was one of the lucky ones. One of my buddies ended up losing a leg, and another one was partially blinded by a piece of shrapnel. I was discharged a few months later, so I decided to come home so I could see if I could build some kind of life outside of the Army."

He paused for a moment as he came back to the present and looked up at her. He was amazed to see her eyes filling with tears, and he thought for a moment that he might have underestimated her.

"I'm so sorry, Bucky," she said as she reached across the table to grab his right hand. "I know you must hear this all of the time, but thank you for what you did over there."

He glanced down at her hand covering his. "All I ever wanted to do was serve my country."

"And you did," she told him, realizing that he somehow blamed himself for being safe at home while so many others were still over there risking their lives. "Does is still hurt?"

"Every now and then," he told with a shrug. "I'm pretty used to it now. I didn't want to end up like some of those vets that are addicted to pain meds, so I've been trying some alternative pain management techniques."

She drew her hand back and continued eating, hoping he would do the same. "Like what?"

He gave her a sideways glance as he picked up his fork again. "You'll laugh at me."

"Try me," she teased.

He gave her a hard-eyed stare before he answered. "Yoga."

"Yoga?" she asked, trying desperately not to laugh at the thought of him doing Downward Dog.

"I thought the same thing when the guy at the VA recommended it. Sam and I don't exactly have the best relationship. I'll never admit it to him, but I think we're too much alike. Anyway, I thought he was pulling my leg, but once I got into it, I realized that it helped me stay centered and the pain was easier to manage."

"Do you go to a studio somewhere, or do you just do it in your living room?" she asked as she tried to picture him in a pair of spandex leggings and a sweatband.

His lips curved up into a smile. "I stay at home. No one wants to see that."

Once they'd gotten over their awkwardness, the conversation began to flow from there. She told him about her family and the traditions they had, and he confessed that he hadn't been home to see his mom or sister in a few months because it was too hard to deal with their pity. She suggested that they just might need some time to adjust, and maybe he should reach out to them. After listening to her argument, he agreed that he would call them the next day, and he might possibly go visit them for Christmas.

With the table cleared and the leftovers stowed away in plastic containers in the fridge, they both stood in the kitchen and tried to figure out where to go from there. YN wasn't ready for the evening to end, but she didn't know how to ask him to stay longer.

He solved her dilemma as he looked toward her tiny tree in the living room. "Didn't you decorate that yet?"

She sighed as she looked at the forlorn little pine. "I ran out of time today."

"Where are the lights?" he asked. "The least I can do to thank you for dinner is to help you decorate your tree."

"Dinner was my way of saying thank you for helping me carry everything up the stairs yesterday," she reminded him as she pulled the strand of lights from its cardboard box and began undoing the twist-tie.

He took a moment to consider her point. "We haven't had dessert yet, so this is me earning my slice of pie."

She let out a giggle as she shook her head. "Whatever you say, Bucky."

He took the strand of lights from her and began to wrap them around the tree. He hated new lights because they were still folded like an accordion, and they always seem to get tangled up. He grabbed a portion in each hand and began to stretch them, but had to stop when he felt a tug on his hair. "What the. . ?"

Laughing out loud at the sight of a grown man tangled up in Christmas lights, she didn't move to help him for a moment.

"Are you going to just stand there and laugh at me, or are you going to help?" he teased, his face breaking out into a smile of his own.

"Hold still," she said as she reached up to his ponytail to untangle the light that had gotten caught.

As she tried to work the light loose without pulling on his hair too much, she accidentally slipped off the elastic band as well. His chestnut strands tumbled down around his face, and as he turned to look at her, she finally saw what Natasha had been going on about for months. That curtain of dark locks framing his face seemed to make his eyes seem that much bluer, and the way he was looking at her had a familiar sensation forming in the pit of her stomach.

Taking a step backwards, she tried to put some distance between them so she could calm her nerves. She was afraid that now she'd seen him in a different light, she'd never be able to look at him the same way again. Turning back toward the bag of decorations, she pulled out the box of blue and silver bulbs she'd found and handed them over to Bucky once he'd finished wrapping the lights.

"You don't want to hang them?" he asked, seemingly unaware of the change in her mood.

"No, I trust you," she told him as she headed back toward the kitchen. "I'll cut the pie while you finish the tree."

"Sounds good to me."

She kept an eye on him as she pulled the chilled pie from the refrigerator. As she cut two slices and put them on plates, she watched how he meticulously placed the bulbs on the tree, making sure that they were evenly spaced and there weren't two blue or silver ones right next to one another. She could appreciate a man who had an eye for detail.

Instead of sitting back at the table, she brought the pie to the couch and laid his plate on the coffee table while she watched him hang the last few bulbs.

"That looks nice, thank you."

He plugged the lights into the outlet and took a step back to admire his handiwork. The tiny tree lit up and YN couldn't help the smile that came across her face when she saw how proud he was of his decorating skills.

"Come sit down and have some pie."

He turned toward around, and with a huge smile, sat beside her on the sofa and picked up his slice of pie. "Mmm. This is delicious. I don't think I've ever had pumpkin pie that tasted this good. Do you have a secret?"

She slid the slice of pie off her fork with her lips and pointed the utensil in his direction. "Actually, I do. My dad always adds a quarter of a teaspoon of allspice in addition to the pumpkin pie spices called for on the can. It makes all the difference, if you ask me."

"I'll have to remember that trick."

"Do you bake pumpkin pies often?" she asked, trying to imagine him in a kitchen wearing an apron with flour smeared across his cheek.

"No, but my mom does, and she would love to know that trick," he explained as he looked back toward the tree. "The light on your TiVo just came on. Is there a show you're missing right now?"

She waved away his concern as she took another bite of the pie. "It's just a cheesy Christmas movie on the Hallmark channel, but it's my favorite, so I always record it so I can watch it again in January."

"Which one is it?"

"It's called _All I Want for Christmas_. Have you seen it?"

Bucky shook his head. "No, what's it about?"

YN's excitement about the movie got the better of her and she started talking faster and faster. "It's about this woman who's having the worst Christmas ever – her purse gets stolen at the mall and she ends up at the police station giving her report to the woman her fiancé left her for, and then she's late for a blind date her best friend set her up on. It's kinda like _Groundhog_ _Day_ , and she ends up reliving the day over and over again until she gets it right."

"Slow down," Bucky said with a laugh. "You really like this movie, don't you? I thought _Groundhog Day_ was hilarious – maybe I should give this one a shot."

"You want to watch it?" she asked with a hopeful look. "I can start it from the beginning."

Bucky thought for a second and then shrugged his shoulders. "Why not?"

With an internal squeal of happiness, she grabbed the remote and pulled up the recording menu. "You're going to love it."

YN could tell that Bucky really felt sorry for the old war veteran, Nick, that kept dying each day. Whenever they discovered that he'd died again, a look of despair would cloud Bucky's eyes, and she wondered if this had been the best movie for them to watch. Despite the momentary sadness Bucky would experience during those parts, they ended up spending the next two hours laughing and making fun of the cheesy moments in the movie.

When the credits began to roll, the screen split and a preview of the next movie came on. Bucky watched the scenes being shown and then turned to her with a questioning look. "This one looks interesting. You up for another movie?"

She let out a small laugh. "Are you kidding me? I live for these Christmas movies. If you're up for another one, I won't say no. How about I get us another piece of pie while we watch?"

"I like the way you think."

YN rushed into the kitchen to get a couple more slices of pie as the opening credits of the movie began playing. By the time she'd gotten back, they'd already been introduced to the main male character. Harry had just come home early from a business trip to surprise his girlfriend for Christmas, only to find her in bed with another man. Both YN and Bucky groaned at the cliché.

"Never come home early to surprise someone," YN exclaimed to the man on the TV screen.

"Has there ever been a movie made where the person coming home early didn't find their significant other in bed with someone else?" Bucky asked.

YN thought for a moment before answering. "I can't think of a single one. I guess that's why it's such a cliché."

The scene shifted to introduce the main female character, and YN began to grow uncomfortable when she realized that her own Christmas was eerily similar to the woman's on the screen. The female protagonist, Meghan, worked for a horrible boss that had made her stay late at work, causing her to miss her flight home. Meghan's next door neighbor just happened to be Harry, and once she found out what had happened to him, she invited him over for Christmas dinner.

YN looked over at Bucky to see if he'd noticed the similarities between their situation and the one in the movie. Granted it wasn't exactly the same, but it was close enough. Bucky seemed to be completely oblivious to the coincidence, so she tried to focus on the movie again.

Bucky might not have been showing any outward signs of his unease, but he'd definitely noticed how the plot of the movie seemed to reflect the situation he'd found himself in. Unlike Harry, he hadn't been cheated on, but he'd been planning to spend the holiday alone just the same. As he watched the way Harry and Meghan laughed and joked with one another, he began to think about how easy it was to be around YN. He'd shied away from most human interaction because of his PTSD, but his sessions with Sam were helping, and he thought that he was handling his stress a little bit better every day. He'd even offered to help YN when he'd seen her struggling on the stairs the day before, and that was something he wouldn't have been comfortable doing a few months ago. Maybe he was ready to let people back into his life.

When the movie started wrapping up, and Harry and Meghan finally admitted their feelings to one another, YN shot a nervous glance toward Bucky. She may not have had feelings for her neighbor for months like the woman in the movie, but she was adult enough to admit that she was starting to develop some now.

Bucky shifted a bit in his seat when the couple on screen shared a kiss. He looked toward YN out of the corner of his eye, only to find her staring at him. Was she thinking the same thing he was? Was this movie a sign that they should take a chance and see what happened between them?

Doubt began to creep in, and Bucky's insecurities got the better of him. "These movies are so unbelievable, right?"

YN let out a nervous laugh. "Absolutely. I mean who breaks up with their girlfriend and then immediately begins a relationship with the girl next door?"

"Seriously. Well, I should probably get going," Bucky said as he began to rise from the sofa. "It's getting late, and you must be exhausted from working and cooking all day."

YN's heart fell a little as Bucky began walking toward the door. She'd been dreading his arrival all day, but now that she'd gotten to know him, she realized that she enjoyed his company. Scared that this was only a one-time thing, she admitted to herself that she didn't want him to go.

"Thanks for coming over," she told him as he reached for the doorknob.

He reached out a hand to place on her waist as he leaned down to give her a kiss on the cheek. "Thanks for inviting. . ."

She'd mistaken his gesture for a hug, and had reached her arms up to wrap around his neck. Before she knew what was happening, her lips collided with his. For a brief moment, neither of them moved, and then once they came to their senses, they pulled away quickly. Putting some distance between themselves, they both stared at their feet – too embarrassed to meet one another's eyes.

"I'm sorry," Bucky said, a slight blush rising up from under the collar of his shirt.

"No, it's my fault," YN began as she looked up. Her breath caught in her throat when she saw the look of naked desire in his eyes.

Bucky would have been lying if he'd said he hadn't enjoyed the brief kiss, but he'd never imagined that she would have shared his feelings. The look in her eyes said otherwise. Taking a chance, he stepped closer to her and cupped her cheek in his hand. He gave her a moment to pull away, but when she didn't, he closed the distance between them.

This kiss wasn't as sweet and innocent as the first one they'd shared. He hadn't intended for it to be anything other than a testing of the waters, but when he heard the moan of pleasure rise up in her throat, he pulled her closer and deepened the kiss.

YN didn't know how long they stood in her entryway, wrapped up in one another's embrace, but by the time Bucky reluctantly pulled away from her, her knees had gone weak. It had been a while since she'd been kissed, but she honestly couldn't remember ever being kissed like that before. It was as though she was drowning, and Bucky was the air she needed to survive.

They stood chest to chest, their hearts pounding in rhythm together as they tried to catch their breath. Their gazes were locked, but neither one of them said a word. Bucky leaned forward a bit and rested his forehead against hers as their oxygen-deprived brains struggled to function again.

YN's hands had somehow found their way into his dark locks of hair, and for the first time, she truly appreciated the long strands that had gotten tangled around her fingers. Curious to see if the sparks she'd felt were just a fluke, she flexed her fingers and brought his lips back down to hers.

Since she'd been the one to initiate the kiss this time around, Bucky tried to let her have the lead. He was ready to dive back in, but she was content to take things a bit slower. He was slowly losing his mind as her teeth nipped at his bottom lip, forcing a groan to rise up from his chest. Losing his resolve, he tightened his hold on her, and took control of the kiss again. She didn't seem to be complaining as her fingernails gently scraped against his scalp, and her tongue began to tangle with his.

A few passionate minutes later, they were forced to come back up for air. This time when their eyes met, they each had a smile on their face.

"Wow," she said, once she'd caught her breath enough to speak.

"Ditto," he replied with a wink.

"Are you sure you have to go?" she asked, shocked at her own brazenness.

"I'd be more than happy to stay, but only if you're sure," he told her, wanting to her to know that he wasn't expecting anything she wasn't comfortable with.

She recognized his words for what they were, and immediately knew she was making the right choice. "I don't want to be alone."

Looking into her eyes as she spoke, Bucky knew that she wasn't just referring to that night. He'd watched her from afar for the past few months, and he'd seen how unhappy she'd been. Right now, though, there was a light in her eyes he'd never seen before and it thrilled him to know that he was the reason behind it. It might be cheesy, and it might be cliché, but he was going to seize this Christmas miracle and hold onto her for as long as he could.

"Me either, doll," he finally said. "Me either."

**Author's Note:**

> _Thank you for reading this story! I hoped you enjoyed every word of the teeth-rotting fluff! I don’t care if it’s canon or AU, I love adding in Bucky and Sam’s frenemy relationship! Do you think Sam was being serious when he suggested Bucky try Yoga to help with his pain management, or was he just messing with him? Do you think Bucky and the Reader have a real chance of making this work? Do you think she’ll help him repair his relationship with his mother and sister? I look forward to your comments!_


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